


Carceral

by seraphichan



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pirate, Other, help me i can't leave this au alone, so you must all suffer with me, we've got some plot bunnies in this one huhuhu
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-02
Updated: 2017-03-02
Packaged: 2018-09-27 22:07:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10053515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seraphichan/pseuds/seraphichan
Summary: “You served under Captain Smith,” Jean blurts.Armin blinks and immediately stops humming, and then, to Jean’s surprise, he laughs.“I must be tired,” he chuckles. “I let myself slip.”(a continuation ofthisandthat)





	

It’s a good three days before the ship stops violently rocking. It’s another day after that before someone comes down to check on Jean in the brig.

It’s not a person he expects to see.

“Here.”

Armin, the ship’s navigator, hands him a small tin cup of water.

Jean takes it and drinks greedily.

“That must have been a rough passage,” Armin says once Jean is finished.

He wanders to the corner of the room and gathers a stool that rolled there, then he sets it up in front of Jean’s cell and takes a seat.

“I imagine you’re hungry, too,” he adds as he unties a piece of square cloth from his belt and unfolds it on his lap to reveal a small mound of biscuits.

It’s only hardtack, but to Jean and his empty stomach they look like a fucking steak. He tries not to audibly swallow and fails.

“You can have one,” Armin says as he holds a biscuit out to Jean through the bars.

Jean’s hand shoots out to grab it, but Armin yanks it away before he can get it.

“If you answer some of my questions first.”

Jean eyes him warily, but nods.

“What exactly does the captain of the Freedom want with us?”

Jean raises one eyebrow. “You’re fucking pirates, take a wild guess.”

“None of the other royal ships try so hard to bring us in, so what makes him so insistent?”

“He’s not a slacker like the rest of them.”

“Is he looking for someone?”

“I think he’s looking for all of you as a whole,” Jean says, wondering just where the hell this guy is going with these questions. They don’t make sense.

“You don’t know anything…”

“Hey!”

“Or do you?”

Armin steeples his hands in front of his face, taps his fingers rhythmically against his chin. He stares at Jean in a calculating way that makes Jean squirm.

“What information are you keeping? And why? Maybe you think your captain’s coming for you and you’re biding your time? Are you that stupid?” Armin asks in a mumble. They aren’t questions that Jean is meant to answer - as insulting and provoking as that last one is - Armin is merely thinking out loud.

He begins to hum, the tune erratic at first before morphing into one that Jean recognizes. One that he’s heard from his time aboard the Freedom. One that he’s heard pass through Erwin’s own lips.

The pieces rapidly fall into place.

“You served under Captain Smith,” Jean blurts.

Armin blinks and immediately stops humming, and then, to Jean’s surprise, he laughs.

“I must be tired,” he chuckles. “I let myself slip.”

Armin stands. The biscuits fall off of his lap and he crushes them with his foot. He leaves without another word. Mikasa stomps into the room moments later.

“Get out,” she says as she opens the door of his cell. As soon as he does she grabs his arm and drags him above deck.

Jean squints at the sudden sunlight, blinking rapidly until his eyes adjust.

He does not like the sight before him. The crew is gathered on deck, some sneering, some smiling, all of them watching Jean as Mikasa hauls him around. They part for her as she leads him to one side of the ship to an open part of the railing where the gangplank would normally go. All that’s there now, though, is the long drop to the ocean.

Shit.

Jean digs his heels into the deck as if doing so could possibly stop Mikasa from strong-arming him over there any further. She tsks at him, then half pushes, half throws him towards the opening, taking a few steps back as Eren comes forward.

There’s unhappiness in his eyes, disappointment. Reluctance. Like he doesn’t actually want to throw Jean overboard.

Not that it seems like that will stop him.

Eren wordlessly removes his sword from his belt and puts the point of it against Jean’s chest. He presses until Jean is forced to walk backwards towards the opening or be impaled.

“Y-you can’t!” Jean stalls as he teeters on the edge of the ship.

Eren snorts and speaks for the first time. “Why not?”

“I--”

“Too slow.”

Eren kicks him in the gut, knocking the wind out of him and plummeting him into the sea. Jean coughs once he resurfaces, shakes his head to get the water out of his eyes.

“Give Davey Jones my regards,” Eren spits.

The crew laughs and then Eren’s voice commands them to sail westward.

“Wai--” Jean calls, voice dying off as Armin steps up to the railing.

He leans against it casually and smiles down at Jean, then, as the ship begins to turn he waves and mouths ‘Goodbye’.


End file.
